There’s too much heat in the Hawaii domestic route kitchen right now, and it’s about to get much worse. As a result, Hawaiian is shifting its attention.
Hawaiian’s new route from Honolulu to Haneda (Tokyo) will commence service next month. Â That will be followed early next year with service to Seoul.
Hawaii is a premier destination for people living in Asia…, so we feel ourselves very well positioned to take advantage of that. — Mark Dunkerley, CEO.
Just how successful will Asia be for Hawaiian?
That remains to be seen. Hawaiian will for the first time compete, not with ho-hum US carriers, but with national-flag carrying Asian airlines, renowned for service, and likely preferred by their denizens.
The first battle will be with a rapidly changing Japan Airlines. JAL plans to re-fashion itself, post-bankruptcy, after Qantas-owned Jetstar, in a model that will likely be both highly sophisticated and competitive.
The stock market isn’t necessarily seeing Hawaiian Air the same way that they see themselves. Â In spite of the carrier industry index being up about 40% in the last year, Hawaiian’s stock has gone the other direction, down over 30%, now at about $6/share.
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